Dakar, Senegal — The rival presidents of Madagascar, Didier Ratsiraka, and Marc Ravalomanana held separate late-night talks, Tuesday, in Senegal, with President Abdoulaye Wade and other African leaders who were hoping to help them find a peaceful settlement to the political stalemate.
Ratsiraka and Ravalomanana arrived separately in the Senegalese capital, Dakar, earlier on Tuesday, both still claiming to be the legitimate president of their island nation.
Ravalomanana accuses Ratsiraka of manipulating the December presidential poll and robbing him of electoral victory. The opposition leader was 'sworn in' as president by a supportive Supreme Court judge February 22.
On his arrival in Senegal, Ravalomanana told journalists he was coming to Dakar in his official capacity as president of Madagascar.
But Ratsiraka later told allAfrica.com: "I remain the head of state until there is evidence to the contrary... What I'd like to see is peace return to Madagascar so that we can get back to a normal life."
Neither man said much after their individual overnight discussions with Wade, with the Mozambican president, Joaquim Chissano, and the leaders of Benin and Côte d'Ivoire, Mathieu Kérékou and Laurent Gbagbo.
The secretary-general of the Organisation of African Unity, Amara Essy, was also present. The proposed peace talks in Senegal are sponsored by the OAU, even though its mediation efforts in Madagascar have so far failed. Ratsiraka says he is ready to compete in a second round run-off election proposed by the OAU. Until now, Ravalomanana has insisted that there must be full scrutiny of the results from the first round of voting before he will contest a second round.
Ratsiraka went in to see the African leaders first on Tuesday night. Afterwards he told reporters he had met his presidential peers and they had listened to what he had to say, though he gave no details of the discussions.
"I make myself available to you, I'm at your service," the sitting Malagasy leader told the Senegalese foreign minister as he prepared to return to the VIP Residence Pasteur where he is housed in Dakar. "My wife is there and my pyjamas are there," he added, the touch of humour bringing smiles to the lips of weary Senegalese officials and waiting journalists.
At past 2am Wednesday, after Ravalomanana completed his one and quarter hour meeting with the African presidents in Dakar, he spoke only briefly with reporters, saying no agreement had yet been reached but that the talks were "heading in the right direction and will continue."
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Asked whether there were plans for him and Ratsiraka to meet, Ravalomanana responded: "I don't know yet, but let them [African leaders and mediators] finish their work first."
The latest Madagascar peace initiative in Senegal comes amid reports of the assassination in hospital of a pro-Ratsiraka military general in Fianarantsoa, the island's third city and a current flash point in the worsening conflict. Reports say the general had been shot earlier in confused circumstances, apparently a victim of friendly fire. While his wound was being attended to in hospital, three hooded men broke in and shot him at point blank range, according to news agencies.
More than 30 people have lost their lives in Madagascar in increasingly bitter and violent confrontations between rival groups backing the two parallel governments. The recent violence is in sharp contrast to the months of peaceful mass protest and strikes earlier this year which culminated in the 'swearing-in' of Ravalomanana with mass support in the capital, Antananarivo.
President Wade said he was optimistic that the political power struggle in Madagascar could be resolved in Senegal. Wade told journalists that if the two protagonists had agreed to come to his country, it was because both had the will to reach a settlement.
Back in Madagascar, there is less optimism. Observers on both sides doubt that either man is prepared to compromise sufficiently to end the political stalemate and stem the violence.
Talks are scheduled to start again in Dakar late on Wednesday morning.
